The New York Times' blogging editors look at the effect Oprah Winfrey is having on the campaign. They conclude that what Obama has on his side is "an Oprah Winfrey we have not seen before, and it was a necessary one. If she had simply showered Mr. Obama with platitudes and told us to trust him because she did, she would have had a negative impact on the campaign and on politics in general."
But that's not what's happening. Oprah is smart and she has been revealing "admirable" political beliefs. She walks to the microphone with Aretha's "Think" playing in the background. And away she goes:
She is concerned, she said, about the “dismal” state of the nation’s schools, which do not “serve the genius of our children.”
She is concerned about people going bankrupt because someone got sick without having health insurance.
She is concerned about the way things get done in Washington today.
She praised Mr. Obama for his work organizing poor neighborhoods, taking on the genocide in Darfur, and opposing the war in Iraq, even when it was an unpopular thing to do.
And she's not asking you to vote for her candidate because he'd be fun to have a beer with.
Ms. Winfrey made clear that she has great respect for Mr. Obama as a man and warm feelings for him as a person. But she also showed the audience that she was endorsing him on the issues — and specifically on what he would do, if elected, to improve the lives of ordinary Americans. That, not just Ms. Winfrey’s celebrity, was what made this an endorsement worth having.
Great. But I think most of Obama's strongest supporters are interested in him for serious reasons and not because a cute media star gloms onto him as her newest enthusiasm.
